Thank you delegates for participating in the 51st IEC in the City of Cebu
and thank you to all the volunteers who made this Eucharistic gathering a huge success!
We are one with the Sacrament of the Eucharist, we are one with Christ!
View the congress week talks and photos at congressupdates.iec2016.ph

Children receive first communion at Day 7 of IEC

Saturday,January30th,2016

By Alexandra Muñoz and Krisha Socito

Children’s MassPhoto by Alexandra Muñoz and Krisha Socito

More than 4,000 children from all over the Philippines received their first Holy Communion at the Cebu City Sports Center, Cebu City, Philippines. 416 of them were street children which were supported by the IEC Committee on Solidarity and Communion.
His Eminence Emeritus Cardinal Vidal presided the Children’s Mass in the afternoon of January 30, 2016. Vidal, being one of the first communicants in the 33rd IEC in Manila in 1937, suited the commemoration very well.
“Faith in God brings out the best in us and faith in others brings out the best in them. So have faith in the presence of the Lord in the Eucharist, believe that His presence is within our midst,” said Vidal as part of his homily directed to the communicants, delegates, and other guests who have attended the mass.
The children that have taken Christ in the Holy Sacrament of Communion for the very first time are among two archdioceses and 10 dioceses around the country which are among Pasig, Novaliches, Ilagan, Talibon, Dumaguete, Calbayog, Naval, Pagadi-an, Malaybalay, Digos, Palo, Cebu, and the Military Ordinariate of the Philippines (MOP) is also included as well.

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What is IEC?

A Eucharistic Congress is an international gathering of people aimed at promoting an awareness of the central place of the Eucharist in the life and mission of the Catholic Church. The Roman Ritual De Sacra Communione et de Cultu Mysterii Eucharistici extra Missam defines the Congress as “a pause for commitment and prayer to which a particular Church invites the universal Church”. During this time “the celebration of the Eucharist becomes the center and vortex of all forms of piety, of theological and pastoral reflections, of social commitment”.